Photography

London

Saturday morning I woke up as I sometimes do, around 02:30am. What else is a photography crazy guy going to do? Hell yeah, drive into the centre of London and find a great spot for some light trail photography. “What’s this to do with the History of Photography?” Quite a lot actually. Back in the day at the start of taking photo’s it was all about long exposure. Getting the exposure time correct for the family portrait. How would this possibly look if it had been taken on a gelatine plate? How would I be perceived now standing on the Embankment with a massive wooden box on legs trying to focus my image on the plate with shroud from the camera covering my torso looking at an upside down image holding the cable release in waiting for the moment to work the shutter.

We take for granted how things have progressed and how easily we can take photographs now. Not so long ago in my lifetime when I got the bug for photography my first digital camera cost me maybe £400 for less the a heavy to hold point on shoot thing that ran on AA batteries and memory card that was 125mb. And I thought it was a god send over my film DSLR, yet this was just in the early 1990’s. What would George Eastman think now about how photography has advanced.

Back to my Saturday morning, something that a lot of people do not see. Thames Embankment empty of traffic and tourists. Just a lone car driving past leaving it’s light trail. I felt blessed but wary at the same time for being close to the Embankment Station, as I know very well that there are a lot of homeless people around this area. Not something to worry about, but its something to always keep in mind if your are out on your own like I was.

As you can see the results were amazing, but I was not quite satisfied. I crave perfection! Something that will never happen but something I always try for.